The Wise Path/Factually Informed

—Holding Rigorously Verified Beliefs

Being There

Factually Informed people are curious, humble, skeptical, rational, and inquisitive.

Factually Informed people are curious, humble, skeptical, rational, and inquisitive. They not only know what they know but also how they know it. They know the limits of their own knowledge and carefully investigate what they don't yet know.  They are skillful researchers, critical thinkers, and they enjoy exploring mysteries. They are interested in the world and love learning. They are literate, well read, and analytically skillful. They rely on a wide variety of reliable sources to rigorously verify information. They know the limits of evidence, the rules logic, and  they identify and dismiss logical fallacies and investigate and resolve factual discrepancies. Factually informed people identify and examine assumptions and investigate rather than pass on rumors and gossip. They have good judgment, and are open minded. They are cautious in assigning blame, are comfortable with complexity, and recognize that many factors contribute to each outcome. They often have extensive real-world experiences, and may be well educated. They combine formal education with self-study and life experiences to learn throughout their lives. They apply their well developed theory of knowledge to carefully decide what to believe and what to dismiss. Learning is fun for Factually Informed people.

Getting There

Working toward the following skills by studying the listed resources and conscientiously practicing the skills or viewpoints they describe will help you move from the Misinformed to the Factually Informed level.

Recommended Study:

• Recognize and acknowledge your own limitations:
  • Recognize and acknowledge the extent of your own ignorance.
  • Become humble and open to new ideas and experiences.
• Become curious about the wonderful and diverse world we all live in:
  • Listen to and learn from people who have ideas and experiences different from your own.
  • Increase your skillful use of inquiry, evidence, and argument.
  • Learn to adopt a neutral point of view on disputed topics and unanswered questions.
• Know how you know:
  • Remain skeptical. Ask more questions; seek your own answers.
  • Begin to develop a theory of knowledge to help you reliably decide what to believe.
  • Increase the clarity, precision, relevance, breadth, and depth of your thinking.
• Increase your literacy:
  • Improve your reading skills.
  • Read, read, and read more! Explore a variety of topics from a variety of viewpoints.
• Increase your numeric skills:
  • Improve your math skills and become comfortable using calculators.
  • Learn statistics.
  • Become proficient in using an electronic spread sheet, such as Excel.
  • Learn to use numbers-oriented research tools such as Wolfram|Alpha.
• Research, analyze, and verify what you want to learn from a variety of reliable sources.
  • Learn about a variety of topics from sources such as the local library, or Wikipedia.
  • Learn about logical deduction, logical inference, statistical inference, and logical fallacies.
• Increase the breadth and depth of your real-world experiences.
  • Explore the world.
  • Visit well-curated museums.
  • Travel. Meet new and interesting people.
  • Embark on adventures. Have fun.
• Continue your formal education, perhaps exploring in new directions.
  • Complete your present school program, if any.
  • Get your GED, High School Diploma, College Degree, or Graduate Degree.
  • Take classes at your local community college or with an adult education program.

Recommended Reading:

Reading these books will prepare you to become factually informed:

• A Rulebook for Arguments, by Anthony Weston
• Introduction to Logic, by Irving M. Copi, Carl Cohen
• Scientific Methods, an online book by Richard D. Jarrard

Become proficient in using these information resources:

• Local libraries, bookstores, college and university libraries, and amazon.com books.
• On-line references including Wikipedia (along with your independent verification of the information) and Scholarpedia.
• On-line databases including Wolfram|Alpha and other academic databases such as WorldCat and the information services such as those provided by EBSCO Publishing .
• Internet searches including Google search (being very careful in selecting results) and Google Scholar.

Moving On

Continue to stay Factually Informed as you work toward Knowing.

Context:

This table links to the states that neighbor this one. This can help orient you to this state both horizontally, showing the action and emotion states at this level of development, and vertically showing the cognition levels before and after this one.

	Knowing
Engagement	Factually Informed	Emotionally Competent
	Misinformed